Threat, Lies, and Honesty
by IamJaneen
Summary: As part of Lila's ongoing power play, she promises to reveal all of Marinette's secrets, particularly her love for Adrien. Marinette decides to beat her to the punch. And Adrien gets information overload.
1. The Setup

AN: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any of their characters, but I adore them anyway!

AN: Two of the fics I've been following lately (Lies We Tell Ourselves by MiniMinou which is an emotional wringer and beautifully written, and Chameleon: Paving the Way to the Truth by Jenrgarcia, the title really says it all) have a similar premise of Marinette confessing to Adrien because of Lila and the honesty bringing them closer. I wanted to do something with that premise. Here it is.

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Lila was starting to lose her advantage over Marinette at school. Chloe refused to pick a side, so she was irrelevant. The more Lila dealt with Ladybug the less Adrien seemed to trust her and the more he seemed to trust Marinette. Kim, Alix, and Nathaniel seemed to be becoming more and more…skeptical of her. Nathaniel would clearly side with Marinette at this point. And it was clear with the rest of the class that the line she so desperately needed carved between her and Marinette was murky. Something she intended to change very soon. But how? Her mom was out at an embassy function this evening, giving Lila plenty of time to ponder the situation as she ate her sandwich.

Hmmm…. She knew Marinette had an insane crush on Adrien and that Adrien was totally oblivious to it. But how could she use that to her advantage? If she told Adrien, he probably wouldn't believe her. Some of the other student's in her class might hear her and know it's a truth. She knew blending truth with lies made them more believable. But it could also be perceived as being cruel to Marinette, who was sadly quite popular. So if she exposes the truth to Adrien, she needs to do it in such a way that it makes I seem like she thought he already knew. If she could come up with some evidence to back up her claim, it might even convince Adrien that she's telling the truth. People might even back her up when they hear it. That would be perfect. If she could pull that off, it would look like an innocent accident. She'd get the joy of embarrassing and hurting Marinette, because she couldn't _honestly_ see Adrien being interested in someone as pedestrian as Marinette. The "little slip" might also help her re-establish her sliding credibility with some of the class members. And knowing that Marinette is crushing on him *might* make Adrien uncomfortable around her which was definitely a step in the right direction as far as Lila was concerned. It was a pretty good idea. Now she'd just have to be on the alert for any opportunities that she could manipulate in the right direction.

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Marinette grabbed a book out of her locker, swinging the door shut as she headed to the hallway. She had four minutes till the bell rang and she was

"Oooff."

Marinette looked up and then had the sudden sensation of bugs crawling on her. She'd accidently ran into Lila. Uhhgg. This was going to be unpleasant.

"I'm sorry, Lila. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going." Marinette stepped to the side to go around Lila, but Lila parroted her, blocking Marinette.

'Great. There goes getting to class on-time,' Marinette thought. She grabbed her phone from her purse, opened the camera, and hit record. She dropped her hand back by her side, trying her best to aim the lens at Lila without being too obvious about it.

Lila had smirked at Marinette.

"Calling for help, are you? I don't think I would expect anyone to show up for me, if I was you. You think you're so smart, and honest, and good, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, Lila, I'm afraid I'm going to be late to class. Please excuse me," Marinette tried again, moving to the side. Lila followed her again. All Marinette could think was that she hoped the recording was catching this.

Lila leaned in toward Marinette.

"I," she whispered, "know that you have secrets. And I am going to find them, and expose them, and show everyone what a fraud you are."

Marinette's heart thundered in her ears. Lila couldn't possibly mean what she thought she meant, could she? She tried her best to keep a politely bored expression plastered onto her face. There are some secrets she just can't afford to let out. She tried again.

"Lila, please let me go to class."

This time Lila grabbed Marinette's shoulders.

"I'll start with your biggest secret-your imaginary little love affair with Adrien."

Marinette could feel herself mentally drooping with relief. That doesn't seem so bad in comparison, she thought. Outwardly, she tried to look terrified. It really wasn't that hard. Lila, having said her part, smirked at Marinette and walked away.

Marinette sighed. On one hand, it was a relief to know that Lila hadn't figured out that Marinette was Ladybug. As often as Lila was involved with akuma's lately, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that she had figured something out. On the other hand, this was still pretty sucky. She stopped the recording on her phone, saved it, and raced to class hoping she could make it on time. Of course Lila would destroy any chance Marinette had of making it to class in a timely manner in addition to threatening and harassing her.

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Marinette doodled as she thought about her dilemma during class. She was definitely planning to talk to Master Fu soon. He could probably give her some helpful advice about how to proceed and he needed to be aware that Marinette had a civilian trying to snoop out her secrets. A meeting with Mr. Damocles was a given. She had reported Lila to him the day after Lila threatened her both in the bathroom and after school. The principal was working with her to collect enough evidence to take serious action against Lila. Lying was not against school rules, apart from academic dishonesty. But bullying and verbal harassment were considered legally actionable crimes. Which left Adrien. There was a reasonable chance that Adrien wouldn't believe Lila, in which case everything would stay the same.

But…

In this case, Lila wouldn't be lying. And plenty of people in her class, including Alya, would be willing to vouch for Lila on this one. Plus, realistically, if Lila caught her by surprise, there is a good chance Marinette's reaction would give her away any way. And to be honest, it was time. Marinette was done with all the lies in her life that weren't absolutely necessary. She pulled out her phone and held it under her desk to send a quick text to the boy in question.

M: Can I talk with you for a few minutes, privately, after class?

A: Sure, what's up?

M: Thanks. I'll tell you then.

Near the end of class Marinette started visualizing herself as Ladybug. She could do this! She almost never stuttered around him anymore. It would be way easier to do this as Ladybug. She laughed to herself as she pictured Ladybug telling Adrien that she was in love with him and Lila was about to expose her. Adrien was enamored with Ladybug and would probably faint. But as amusing as it was, it wouldn't be helpful. So instead she breathed deeply, held herself up, and got up to follow Adrien into the hallway. He led her to a corner where they could have some privacy. She turned to face him. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, focusing on her words. She let her breath out and looked at him. The guy she loved. She could do this.

"Things with Lila and I are continuing to escalate, despite my best efforts to be non-confrontational. I _know_ that you know that she is a liar. And I _know_ that you trust me. So I need to be completely honest with you about something." She steadied herself again.

"I'm in love with you, Adrien. I have been for a while. You are such a thoughtful, positive, and kind person. I know that you're in a relationship with Kagami and I would NEVER want to interfere with that. I wouldn't even be telling you this now if Lila wasn't threatening me with spilling my secret. I'm sorry to drag you into this.

I… I just felt that it would be better to tell you myself, instead of you hearing it from her. Also, this way you'll be prepared when Lila does…well, whatever it is she is planning to do. Sorry, again," she just barely managed to squeak out. "I've got to go find Mr. Damocles now."

Then she turned with as much dignity as she could and headed for the principals' office. She had a video to show him.


	2. Revelations

Adrien stood there, watching Marinette disappear around the corner, in complete shock. As soon as his brain reconnected to his body, her hurried to Ms. Mendeleiev's class. He lucked in and found her setting out lab equipment.

"Hey, Ms. Mendeleiev, there's been a modeling emergency. I'm needed by my father for the next hour or so. Can I get today's assignments?"

Getting out of class was beyond easy for him at this point, and Adrien had found that if you asked for the assignment, teachers were generally far too busy describing it to you, to question the reason for your absence.

He jotted down the assignment as Ms. Mendeleiev told him about it, then he headed upstairs to his favorite bathroom on the third floor. It was typically abandoned, so he could chat with Plagg with few interruptions.

As soon as the stall door swung closed, Adrien was pulling on his overshirt, looking at Plagg.

"Can you believe Marinette is in love with me?!"

Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Yeah Kid, I think we went through this before. She said she loved you, you said you loved Ladybug, her dad got akumatized, and we missed out on the CHEESE COURSE!"

Adrien spluttered.

"Well, I AM in love with Ladybug. And she didn't know I was Adrien then, did she?"

Plagg looked at him with unfathomable eyes.

"You know," Plagg said slowly, tilting his head in thought, "I really don't know. Does that matter?"

Adrien had already moved on though.

"And she thinks I'm in a relationship with Kagami!"

"Um, Adrien…you ARE in a relationship with Kagami."

"Well, yeah, but I mean Marinette thinks I'm in a ROMANTIC relationship with Kagami."

"Ok, kid, even without a cheese toll, I am going to spell this one out for you. You asked Pigtails for love advice about Kagami. You then took Kagami on a double date with Pigtails and her musician friend. You accompanied her to a royal wedding. You escorted her to a movie premier. You hang out with her all the time. You ARE dating Kagami."

Adrien slid off the toilet and onto the floor.

"Oh, no! How did this happen?" Adrien moaned from the floor, his head in his hands. "What would Ladybug think of me? I can just see it now. 'Well, Ladybug, I didn't realize I was dating her? And that other girl, she's just a friend. Who happens to be in love with me." This is a disaster!

His mind was starting to spiral into panic when suddenly certain words and concepts fell together in his mind. LILA was planning on using HIM as her WEAPON of choice to HURT MARINETTE. He had no intention of letting that happen. He didn't know how to stop it yet, but he would. He started to slowly come up with a plan of action. It wasn't complete, but it was a start. 1) Reassure Marinette 2) Find out what was going on with Lila 3) Re-establish relationship boundaries with Kagami. Again. 4) Stop Lila. With that in mind, he got out his phone to text Marinette.

A: I was flattered and surprised by what you had to say to me earlier. It's a lot to think about. Can I have a few days to think about everything? Please don't be a stranger during that time. Thank you, also, for giving me a heads up about Lila. Can we talk about what is going on between the two of you sometime soon? I get the impression I'm missing some of the story. Also, I am not dating Kagami.

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The next few days were not easy. Marinette was back to stuttering around him like she had the first few months of school, but at least she wasn't avoiding him. And at least now he knew what caused it. She'd set up a time to talk with him and had caught him up on pretty much everything with Lila, from following the girl the first day of school out of jealousy ('Props on being honest there,' he thought. 'That had to be difficult to admit.') to being threatened in the bathroom, all kinds of Lila's lies, being harassed and threatened during and after school several times, right up to the day before when Lila had apparently caught Marinette alone in the hallway and told her she was watching her. It made a shiver go down his back. That was full on creepy.

He had also spoken to Kagami after fencing. He explained that while he enjoyed hanging out with her and valued her friendship, he was pursuing someone else and hoped he hadn't led her on. Kagami shocked him by saying that while she wasn't happy about it and maybe had been getting her hopes up, she'd already known he was interested in Marinette and that she respected his wishes regardless. She also went on to say that she was surprised he hadn't made a more aggressive move yet, as it was clear to anyone with eyes that Marinette returned his interest.

Needless to say, that night before bed he had a long, mostly one-sided discussion with Plagg.

"Plagg," Adrien called, trying to get the little cat's attention.

"Adrien," Plagg deadpanned back in his most bored voice.

"Did you hear what Kagami said?" Adrien offered his opener.

"Unfortunately, yes. We're about to analyze your love life again, aren't we?" Plagg questioned, as he flew up from the wastebasket, he'd been in.

"May-be?"

"Ughhh…Can I at least get some Camembert first?"

"I have a small wheel of Epoisses de Bourgogne saved for a special occasion. Interested in that?"

"Oh, no, this is going to be bad, isn't it? And yes, hand it over."

Adrien, being no fool, tossed half of it to Plagg, rewrapping and reserving the other half to ensure that his floating stomach stayed tuned in for the conversation. Then he opened his entire bay of windows and stuck a nose plug on himself so he could talk without gagging.

"Kagami thinks I'm in love with Marinette."

"Ok."

"But I'm in love with Ladybug!"

"Notice that you didn't deny that you're in love with Marinette."

Adrien stopped, flabbergasted. Why hadn't he flat out denied it? And then it hit him. He couldn't deny it. Not even right now. He could not say out loud, 'I am not in love with Marinette.' And he couldn't do it, because it would be a lie. He was in love with Marinette. But he was in love with Ladybug, too! He slumped onto the bed.

"Wow, looks like I got the point across really quickly tonight, huh? Can I get the rest of my cheese now as a reward?" Plagg teased as he flew over to Adrien. He settled onto Adrien's stripes.

"Hey, you're okay, aren't you? I mean, she loves you, you love her, Ladybug will be happy if you stop flirting all the time. It's a win, win, win, right?"

Plagg knew it was the best possible win, but a kwami has to have a few secrets, even if he doesn't want them.

Adrien scratched Plagg behind the ears and under the chin. Plagg did have a point. Marinette was amazing. And while he had never let himself think of Marinette in a romantic way, now that he was considering it, he could feel himself yearning for it. And because he knew she had a crush on Chat Noir and she claimed to be in love with him, he would be able to just be himself and not worry about projecting a certain image. That was a really nice thought. It would solve at least one of the problems Lila was creating, but could he give up on Ladybug?

He didn't know.

"Yeah, Plagg, I think I am all right." He looked down to see the little god of destruction, looking entirely too innocent, sleeping on his chest. He laid back down and fell asleep, too.

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Adrien woke up in the wee hours of the morning to a blaring akuma alert from his computer. Great. Morning akuma's wrecked so much havoc with his schedule. Couldn't Hawkmoth come up with something better to do at this hour? Like sleep, maybe? Adrien, still rumply from sleeping in his clothes, called on his transformation and made a hasty exit through his window.

Much to Chat Noir's amusement, the akuma today appeared to be an older kid, going by the moniker King Kandy. He was rampaging through Paris, turning all the buildings and structures into various candies and confections. Many Parisians were flocking to the delicious treats to enjoy them, while other's were getting stuck to fruit leather sidewalks, blown sugar glass walls, and frosting grass.

"Wow, LB, this sure is a sticky situation," he said, as he landed next to his partner on a building that hadn't been hit yet.

"Well," she said, smirking up at him, "hopefully, it will have a sweet ending."

Chat Noir could barely contain his laugh. Shaking off his mirth, he asked what the game plan was.

"I don't have one yet. King Kandy doesn't seem to have much of an offensive arsenal. If we can take him down without getting stuck to something, I think we'll have it made."

"I think a little luck could make this one even easier, don't you think? I don't know about you, M'Lady, but I have a pretty full morning schedule."

Ladybug laughed. "Yeah. My schedule was supposed to include more sleep. Lucky Charm!"

A bottle of vegetable oil fell out of the sky.

Ladybug grabbed the bottle and opened it up, covering her feet, hands, elbows, and knees with it.

"And here I was, hoping for a pillow," she said, as she tossed the bottle to Chat Noir. "Coat your baton, too. This way we won't stick to anything."

After that, their attack was simple and straight forward. The akuma wound up being in King Kandy's staff which looked like a totem pole of candy. When the akuma had been cleansed, the boy was left holding a treat bag he received at a birthday party, but his parents hadn't allowed him to eat. Things were cleaned up quickly. Chat Noir was headed home. A few blocks from where they had defeated the akuma, he was vaulting over an alley when he witnessed a flash of pink light and saw a red kwami fly out of a pair of earrings and into Marinette Dupain-Cheng's waiting hands. He crashed face first into the top of the next roof.

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After a full day of studying the artwork at the Musee d'Orsay, the class was relaxing at the Tuileries Garden before heading back to school. Kim, after being sushed repeatedly on the subject of naked women, had moved on to mocking the still lifes.

"I mean, an asparagus. Really? What was that all about?" Kim crowed, leaning back on his elbows.

"It is well known among artists and historians, that the purchaser for the original work, _A Bunch of Asparagus_, overpaid for the art," Max filled Kim in. "Manet, as a joke, painted one additional asparagus spear and sent it, since it was "missing from the bunch.""

Several kids in the class chuckled at that.

"I thought the museum was so romantic," Rose dreamily said to the class.

Max nodded enthusiastically at Rose's statement. "While researching the museum before our trip, I read about a love story mystery tied to the museum. Markov and I have are discussing whether or not we should offer our help to try to solve the mystery."

Several students looked on in anticipation.

"Tell us more about it," Alya insisted.

"Doug Block, a film maker, found a love letter in a book about Paris. It was addressed to someone named Betty. It was written by someone named Henri. The letter instructs Betty to go to the Musee d'Orsay. The film maker is trying to track down Betty and Henri but hasn't had any luck yet. The letter is…quite moving," Max finished.

"Oh, I just love a good love story," Rose trilled. "Tell us again about how Ivan confessed to you, Mylene!"

Much to Ivan's chagrin, Mylene told a detailed account of his bumbling attempts to win her heart. Then Alya chimed in and recounted a partial tale of how she and Nino got together. It was obvious that it was missing some details, as every time Nino would start to add something Alya would give him a look and vigorously shake her head. Lila had been listening and watching in fascination. She really didn't care how these losers got together, but this was about as close to a perfect setup as she was going to get for her "Embarrass Marinette via Adrien" plan.

"Wow, Alya that's such a great story!" Lila spoke up, using her "I'm your best friend" voice. Then she looked directly at Adrien and batted her eyes innocently. "How did Marinette confess to you?" she asked curiously.

Ah. The ball had landed in his court at last. And what a day for it to do so. He really hoped Marinette wouldn't kill him. He looked right at his would-be executioner and said, "It was so sweet and unexpected. You see," he said, glancing at Lila to make sure he had her attention before making eye contact with Marinette again, "There had been an incident right outside the bakery and we both just happened to rescue a baby together. I forgot his pacifier, so I went up to her balcony to get it…

Notes:

King Kandy is a character from the game Candyland. The story about the asparagus painting and the love story mystery are true. The love note is quite moving.


	3. Akuma

"There had been an incident right outside the bakery and we both just happened to rescue a baby together. I forgot his pacifier, so I went up to her balcony to get it…"

Adrien kept watching Marinette, waiting for the moment when she realized.

"She threw herself into my arms-and mind you," he gave an amused smile, looking at his audience for just a second, "I was still holding a baby-and told me she loved me just as her dad stuck his head through the trap door for the balcony."

The surrounding students started to giggle and laugh from the mental image. Marinette's eyes blew wide open. WHAT!? How in the world did Adrien know about that?! And why was he talking like he was Chat Noir?

A quick inhale from the girl in question told him he had just missed her realization and his eyes were instantly back on her. "Her dad kindly invited me to brunch the next day. Unfortunately, I really botched the whole thing and her dad wound up being akumatized" he said softly, keeping his eyes on Marinette. He took a breath and continued. "I hope you'll forgive me," he finished with his cat eyes, which, frankly, Marinette thought was wildly unfair.

The truth was sinking in and Marinette had no idea what to do. Adrien was Chat Noir. The boy she loved was her partner. The one she kept turning down. Only now she's professed her love for him on two different occasions, both in and out of the mask. Did he know she was Ladybug? Why had he just blown his identity? She felt like she was drowning in thoughts. This was…

"Ridiculous," Chloe said, "Utterly ridiculous. You are far too perfect to be botching things Adrikins, and if Dupain-Cheng has any sense at all, she's already forgiven you. Sabrina, let's get out of here." She flipped her ponytail as she stood up, "I have more important places to be." She took off, Sabrina hastily standing and chasing after her.

Lila, sitting mostly stunned, felt like she could hurl. That was sickeningly sweet and it TOTALLY backfired on her. How could she have misjudged so badly? She was sure Adrien hadn't been into Marinette. Maybe those two idiots were hiding something else. Furthermore, she'd just gone and handed the spotlight over to those two overzealous goody-two-shoes. Now Rose was fawning over the two of them in that simpering voice of hers. Ayla was acting as the grand inquisitor. Even Ivan and Nathaniel were crowding in on Adrien and Marinette to congratulate them. Her fingers curled in tightly. How could they? They had ruined her whole plan!

"Hello, Backfire," the soft voice of revenge whispered in her mind. "They might have ruined your current plans, but I can give you the power to ruin everyone's plans. And you will get an opportunity to make Ladybug's Lucky Charm backfire, too."

That was a no-brainer. "I'm in, Hawkmoth," Lila whispered, so as not to draw the attention of her too close classmates. She could feel the power washing over her. Interesting, this time her purse seemed to have turned into a silver cylinder with a button on it. This could be fun.

Lila pointed the pipe at Kim and pressed the button. He went from laughing to crying in a second. That was something to cherish indeed.

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Marinette heard Kim's obnoxious laughter change into deep sobs and looked up, alarmed.

Oh.

Great.

Lila had gone and gotten herself akumatized again. She was wearing silver spandex this time. Her hair was standing straight up and appeared to be on fire. And she was holding what appeared to be a tail pipe. As Marinette took in the bizarreness that this akuma was, she was already shouting, "Run!" and matching her actions to her words. Adrien caught her arm and dragged her in the opposite direction-namely towards Lila. What was he thinking? Lila, however, was apparently busy checking out her new powers, shooting flames at random Parisians. A man drinking coffee suddenly dumped it out and sat down at a table, cradling his head in his arms. A woman trying to calm a crying baby started yelling at the baby. And in the chaos, Marinette and Adrien sailed right past Lila, skating around the corner of a chest high hedge.

"I'm sorry, Marinette," Adrien started, talking as he panted. "I really hope you will forgive me. But right now, I think Paris needs us, right?" His eyes pleaded. She wasn't really sure what for, because her mind was still on overload, but thankfully her body actually did something reasonable this time, and she nodded. Adrien slumped with relief. "Great. Plagg, Claws out!" Marinette watched as Adrien transformed right in front of her. Surely this day couldn't get any weirder, right? Chat Noir looked at her. "I think you'll be more helpful if you transform. Unless you have another plan?" he asked. Oh. He did know. Well, time was of the essence.

"Tikki, Spots on!" In a few short seconds, the two of them were peering over the edge of the hedge, trying to figure out how to stop Lila. Again.

"Where do you think the akuma is?" Chat Noir asked, watching his possessed classmate as she shot random people with her fiery weapon.

"I don't know, I should have been watching her." Ladybug sighed. "It's not like we didn't know she was up to no good."

"Maybe it's in those bands around her ankles? The look different," offered Chat.

Ladybug smirked. "Flare enough," she giggled. "Let's go!"

They jumped over the bush and attacked. Chat Noir was doing his best to keep her fire from hitting random civilians while Ladybug called her Lucky Charm. The Lucky Charm was a fishbowl and it was clear to Ladybug immediately how she could use it. She moved into position and

a burst of fire swept around her and she tripped forward, dropping the fishbowl.

Water splattered everywhere, Ladybug's trip causing her to slide right through the puddle.

"Chat Noir! Cataclysm her ankle bands," she called desperately, as Backfire approached, laughing at the fallen superhero.

Chat Noir vaulted forward, calling his Cataclsym, and was hit with a stream of fire. He fell towards the ground, his arms swinging around trying to catch onto anything when his right hand made contact with the flame thrower.

The flame thrower disintegrated into ash and a small purple butterfly flitted off. Ladybug purified the little insect and released it, much to Lila's increasing dismay.


End file.
